Waking Up at September's End
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: 16 year-old Kisame began to wonder if saving that pink-haired girl on a whim was the greatest or dumbest thing he had ever done. One thing was for sure, he was going to get her back for breaking his arm. Adopted from PiperDreamer.
1. Chapter 1

Waking Up at September's End

Author: PiperDreamer

Adopted by: Dragon'sHost

_Slant_ means thought.

**Bold** means Inner.

_Slant_ and Underline meaning dream or nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Naruto.

_**Hi, Dragon'sHost here. While I did adopt this story from **_PiperDreamer_**, I have left the first two chapters mostly intact. However, I did add a few scenes of my own and change a couple of things (such as giving the Mizukage a heavier accent). I do plan to keep the original format for the story as it is. My personal notes will be in bold italics at the beginning and end of each chapter. Enjoy!**_

* * *

16 year-old Kisame began to wonder if saving that pink-haired girl on a whim was the greatest or dumbest thing he had ever done.

One thing was for sure, he was going to get her back for breaking his arm.

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

Sakura stared glumly at the guard at the gate, reminding herself that she needed to stay civil since she was in a neutral country, and that punching the guard for being a rude asshole would not go well with the new, extremely paranoid Mizukage.

She had been waiting here in front of the Mist Village gates for over an hour in the freezing January weather because they just _had_ to search everything in her and her teammate's packs.

A week ago, Tsunade-shishou had sent her and Team 3 (a trio of jounin who all had been teammates in their genin days) to heal a third of the council and find a cure to an epidemic that had recently broken out all over the village.

Tsunade explained that their medics had done the best that they could with the disease, but had at last swallowed their pride and humbly turned to Konoha for help. They had then requested Sakura due to her reputation: she'd nearly surpassed her sensei the Fifth Hokage at the age of fifteen, had a track record of finding remedies to even impossible ailments, and could heal near any wound.

Some days Sakura just plain hated her reputation.

It often led to B-class or higher missions which, even though she was grateful to get them, were often just for her abilities as a medic instead of a ninja.

She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had dealt with an opponent of decent stature, Sasori of the Akatsuki non-withstanding.

"Are we ever going in there?" the dark haired teammate garbed in regular jounin's uniform, Masashi (who Sakura had a strange urge to be both respectful of and strangle for causing all her problems, something that really bothered her since she was sure that she had never met him before this mission) whispered to Akira, a round faced man with glasses wearing a orange gi (another man she felt she needed to be respectful of yet wanted to beat into a bloody pulp. Weird).

"Quit complaining you two," growled Rumiko, a dark haired woman wearing glasses and sporting a lovely red mandarin shirt and blue pants with slippers (Sakura was wary of this one who, when they came across a traveling miko and her companion—someone who reminded Sakura of a Inuzuka only with white hair—somehow turned the two against each other and then managed to throw a teenage girl—who bared a striking resembles to the miko—into the mix and seemed to enjoy the resulting fight far more than she should've).

The guard eyed their papers suspiciously, glancing up at the Konoha ninjas every once in a while. His gaze wandered over to the various weapons discovered in their packs, and then returned to the team with even more trepidation than before.

_Oh come on! _Sakura internally berated the man. _We're shinobi! Even if we are medics, of course we're also going to have some weapons on hand in order to protect ourselves! You should know damn well who we are, as we sent a message to you about our arrival several days ago!_

Oblivious to her mental rant, the guard continued with his agonizingly slow search. As he pulled out some poisonous herb bundles from her pack, he narrowed his eyes at her in a manner that did not bode well with the kunoichi.

Sakura tried her best to curb any facial tics that would give away her current homicidal state of mind by smiling brightly. "Those are native to Konoha," she supplied helpfully, hoping to get the process to go faster and smoother. "They have many medical purposes."

"I'm sure they do," he hissed back, entirely unconvinced.

It probably didn't help that Team 3 was starting a miniature brawl behind her, complete with hair-pulling, name-calling, and (judging from the yells) biting.

Sakura could only pray that the man would hurry up and finish soon; she was really tired and listening to these three bicker cheerfully (her standards for good-naturedness were admittedly a little odd) made her wish her own genin teammates had been even half this happy. It made her a bit jealous and being jealous of her temporary teammates was probably not a good thing.

As if Kami had heard her prayer, the rude guard confirmed that they really were here on the orders of the Mizukage and allowed them entry. A nervous looking chuunin then guided them through the village to the tower, while Sakura took in her new surroundings.

For the most part, it appeared as though the village was in a constant state of fog (this _was_ the Village Hidden in the Mist but really, how the heck did these people even know where they were going if some areas she passed through couldn't even allow her to see her hand in front of her face?).

And worse, when she did see people they only took one look at her and either looked extremely shocked or confused. It was mostly elders that did this, though, whereas the younger ones looked more guarded than anything else.

Oh come on, her pink hair wasn't _that_ strange!

Crazy old farts.

After what felt like an hour, Sakura finally saw the blurry outline of the tower. It almost freaked her out, how such a large building could sneak up on her so fast.

_Thank Kami!_ Sakura was about to speed up when a hand reached out of the mist and grabbed her arm. Quelling the sudden impulse to stab the owner of the hand (and the aforementioned appendage), Sakura swiftly turned and came face to face with a Mist kunoichi.

It was a plain looking woman in her late twenties, with long dull blonde hair half hidden by a purple hat and garbed in the standard Mist chuunin uniform. She looked as though she had just seen an old friend if the grin (showing a row of sharp-looking teeth) on her face was any indication.

"It's you! You came back!"

Sakura stared at the lady oddly. She was pretty sure she had never met this woman before. Maybe the lady was mistaken?

The woman's expression was one of pure delight, full of an almost innocent happiness rarely found in shinobi. "It's been a long time, Sakura-san!"

Nope, she wasn't. Sakura began to wrack her memories for anyone who looked like this. A former patient perhaps?

"Man, I haven't seen you in forever! You…you haven't… aged a day…" The purple-hatted woman trailed off, sounding confused.

"Sato-san, I believe you are needed at the hospital." Sakura's guide said frostily.

The woman let go immediately, giving Sakura an apologetic grin, and then burst into a fountain of water.

**I gotta learn that,** Inner Sakura commented as she moved away from the clear liquid.

"Crazy woman," the guide muttered. Upon receiving looks from everyone on Team 3 and Sakura, he explained, "Sato Anzu-san is a medic-nin. She's one of our best but she's also a bit…eccentric."

_What shinobi isn't?_ Sakura thought, her mind going immediately to Anko, Kakashi-sensei, Gai, and Lee.

After that weird run-in, Sakura soon found herself in the building being ushered by the secretary to the Mizukage's office, while being scolded the whole way about being late.

**It's not our fault that retard at the gate took so long going through our stuff!** Inner yelled. **If breaking his nose would have gotten us in sooner, we would have done it! **Sakura point-blank ignored her and kept her face as neutral as possible.

The layout of the building itself didn't seem too different from the Hokage tower Sakura was used to, and it made her wonder if they were all made from the same blueprint. The shinobi in her blanched at the thought since it would in fact be a huge security risk.

After a few more minutes of being almost-pushed to their destination, Sakura and company entered the presence of the Mizukage.

Sakura blinked before sweat dropping; the room was so full of paperwork, she almost couldn't see the Mizukage.

_Do all Kages suffer from paperwork?_ Sakura asked herself as she watched the man behind the desk stare maliciously at the offending tree-product, like he was about to set the whole thing on fire and laugh manically while dancing around it.

The secretary gave a short cough, causing the man in question to snarl back rather fearsomely, without removing his gaze from the hated stack in front of him. "If ya 'ave 'nother load of paperwork, I swear I'll rip yer damn arms off an' beat ya ta death with 'em!"

**Yes, they do,** Inner deadpanned, reminding Sakura of a similar threat made by Tsunade.

"Um… sir, the team from Konoha is here," the secretary replied meekly, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere other than the Mizukage's office.

It was only then did the Kage look up.

He was easily the tallest man Sakura had ever seen (if the fact that he easily towered over the huge mounds of paperwork was any indication), with a full head of gray hair that seemed to defy gravity, high cheek bones, one blood shot hazel eye and the other an empty socket (that showed out even more thanks to his pallid skin being heavily scarred), and sharp triangular teeth that seemed to be a natural physical appearance of the residents of Water Country that showed through his snarling face.

"'Bout damn time ya showed up! Th' 'ell took ya so long?"

"One of your guards at the gate took pleasure in delaying us for as long as possible," Akira quipped, not noticing the secretary giving him pointed looks that screamed, 'Don't say anything that'll piss him off!'.

Sakura almost winced at the decidedly tactless statement, but kept her outward composure. A talk on tactfulness with Akira was in order, but now wasn't the time to lecture. Instead, she turned her attention to studying the Mizukage further, using her knowledge as a medic to her advantage.

The man was easily in his late fifties, and he looked as though he hadn't slept properly in days judging by the large bags under his eyes. He twitched slightly every once in awhile, as if he had been sitting for a very long time and was suffering from cramping. In an all-around bad mood, he looked very close to going nuts and killing everything in sight. A conspicuously huge pot of coffee sat on the desk within easy reaching distance.

_Wow, change the coffee to sake and we'd have a male version of shishou!_ Sakura thought in amazement.

Then she noticed the large broadsword propped against the desk, also well within the grasp of the Mizukage, and easily long enough to decapitate them all from his seat.

_That is easily the biggest sword I have ever seen, and that's including Zabuza's,_ Sakura thought, remembering the missing-nin's weapon and its destructive capabilities clearly.

The imposing man looked them over, judging them on their status and reputation and ignoring Akira's comment. When his gaze reached her, Sakura thought she saw a flash of something gleam in his one eye but dismissed it as a trick of the strange lighting produced by the fog outside the windows.

She was exhausted and it was already 11 pm. It wouldn't be too much longer before she crashed completely.

"Ya three will be 'ssigned a partner an' 'elp with some o' th' sentry posts 's a good amount o' our men 'ave fallen ta th' ailment," the Mizukage addressed Team 3, all of whom nodded in acquiescence. "You, Haruno," he pronounced carefully, "will begin work at th' 'ospital at six o'clock tomorrow mornin'. I know yer all tired an' whatnot from yer little trip 'ere, but I can't spare ya 'nymore time than tha'. I'll provide ya with a guide fer th' duration o' yer visit 's well 's yer livin' expenses." He paused a moment to let that sink in, and then commanded, "Wolf."

An ANBU appeared, his mask that of a wolf. "Escort these four ta their 'otel," he ordered before going back to his paperwork.

And with that Sakura and company walked out of the tower, following the ANBU very closely to prevent themselves from losing sight of him.

It wasn't long before they came to the quaint—if not a bit old—hotel.

Upon seeing the ANBU, the owner, a rather old looking man whose name badge said Hiroshi, practically threw the keys at Team 3 but hesitated for the barest of moments when he saw Sakura.

The pause didn't escape unnoticed by the tired kunoichi. Why was he looking at her like he knew her? But as quickly as he started he stopped, gingerly handing her the key with the number 13 engraved on it instead of tossing it at her.

_This place is weird,_ she concluded. Inner wholeheartedly agreed with her.

As far as hotels went, this one had a fairly standard interior that looked in better shape than the outside. After a short trek up the staircase, the four Konoha ninja reached their respective rooms. Sakura entered her own temporary living quarters without truly examining the inside and, immediately dropping face-first onto the bed.

Though her body was tired, sleep danced out of her grasp. There were simply too many thoughts swirling around inside her skull.

Why were the older people in the Village acting like they knew her? It was as if they were surprised to see that she was alive or something!

Plus, what that Sato lady had said really bothered her.

What the hell did she mean she hadn't aged a day?

* * *

Honryuu Kasamaru looked up from his paperwork-bound desk, and stared out the window into the constantly moving mist.

The new Mizukage had almost jumped out of his skin when he saw her.

He knew it had to be the same person—who else was a medic trained by the Slug Sannin, had pink hair, and emerald eyes?

Seriously, why hadn't he noticed this before? Who else could it be?

_So she really wasn't lying back then,_ he mused, remembering the last time he had encountered the strange and unique girl.

It had been during their last major epidemic, slightly over seventeen years ago.

Heaving his body out of his chair, he strolled over to where an old cabinet stood with large letters on it stating: MIA.

He pulled one drawer open and leisurely skimmed over the files until he found the one he was looking for.

The thing was old and starting to turn yellowish, having sat there for nearly two decades. He didn't bother to read anything other than the name: Uzutake Sakura.

Taking care with the fragile paper, he slowly pulled a little picture out from its paperclip and held it closely to his eye. It was her I.D picture, probably her official Tokubetsu Jounin photograph.

It was a perfect match. The only difference was that the Mist hitai-ate was absent, being worn around her waist if he recalled correctly.

Then he grinned when he found another photo wedged between the papers: the one he dubbed 'Team Ass-pain'.

In the center stood Sakura, who hadn't changed at all as she rubbed the hair of an annoyed looking ten-year old Momochi Zabuza. She was being teased (rather unmercifully if he recalled) by a seventeen year-old Hoshigaki Kisame with a younger, two-eyed version of himself hiding behind them, choking down various pills.

Ah, he remembered those days well, mostly because when he had been assigned to them he'd had to take prescription drugs just to deal with the insane lot.

She had only been there for nine months, but she had left a large impact on the place and was probably the main reason Kisame went rogue.

Not that he was ever going to tell anyone that.

Looking at the calendar, Kasamaru couldn't help but grin.

Tomorrow was the day.

* * *

Kisame stared emptily out the window of his hotel room, looking above the treetops at the perfectly clear night sky above Fire Country.

Itachi found it strange that his normally jovial partner looked so… blank. Or rather didn't have his usual grin on his face. It actually worried him, not that he showed it (or ever would).

Kisame pretty much ignored everything as he continued to gaze out into nothing, not seeing the sky at all but a pink haired girl smiling happily at him, her jeweled eyes glittering with glee.

_Tomorrow,_ he thought.

Tomorrow marked the anniversary of when he met the crazy girl that had, without ever meaning to, turned his world on its head.

Uzutake Sakura.

* * *

_**That took a lot longer to finish than I thought!**_

_**Please review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello, again! I would just like to thank all of you who reviewed! You are wonderful!**_

_**In response to the anonymous reviews: Thank you very much, and Kisame appears in this chapter! THANK YOU!**_

_**Now I'll let you read the next chapter.**_

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

The next morning, Sakura gaped like an idiot at the Kirigakure hospital for several minutes, unable to stop herself. Her guide waited nearby, but if he was becoming impatient he hid it well.

The facility was much larger than Konoha's, with off-white stone walls and a staircase that led to two double wide doors separated by a four foot strip of stone. A large cobblestone path meandered through the well-tended front lawn into a decent sized garden that some people were using to harvest medical herbs. However, none of that was what caused her to stare in amazement.

It was the statue. It was only half her size, very old—if the weathered, slightly washed out texture of the stone was anything to go by—and stood between the two doors like some sort of guardian. There were small but bright flowerbeds planted about its feet, as well as several bunches of flowers laid almost reverently against it, as if part of some sort of homage.

It would have been just like any other statue if it wasn't for the fact it looked like an exact replica of herself.

She turned to her guide, who was giving her a sharp toothed frown/sneer, the same expression he'd been showing her since she met him. "Um, why is this here?" Sakura asked, hoping to sound more curious than startled.

Huffing slightly, the man replied, "It's a statue of the founder of this hospital. The older shinobi say that she was a miracle worker who was years ahead of her time."

"Oh, okay. Why are there flowers here?"

"Some of the locals pay homage to the statue as a way of gratitude. The woman did stop a near annihilation within Mist."

That piqued Sakura's interest, but before she could inquire more about the subject the man interrupted. "Look, as fascinating as this is, we've got people dying so please just do your job and get in there."

Sakura flushed at her own thoughtlessness before walking into the hospital.

A quick glace around the lobby revealed the same sort of stonework that the walls were made of. Striding up to the nurse behind the large desk near the entryway, she reported in.

And was almost immediately thrown hip deep into patients.

Sakura sighed. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Anzu stared at the young medic working beside her for a moment before returning to her own patients. She couldn't believe that Sakura was back! In the flesh! Everyone thought she had died that day she disappeared sixteen years ago!

Anzu frowned a little though. But, if this _was_ the same person, why did Sakura look exactly the same as she did back then? She had heard about some people having the ability to manipulate their bodies to make themselves younger looking, or even jutsus that worked about the same so maybe Sakura had just done that? After all, the woman had to be in her thirties.

But since when had Sakura ever been conscious of her appearance? Surely she didn't age that badly? And why look sixteen again?

When she had greeted the pink haired woman, Sakura hadn't seemed to recognize her.

_And come to think of it,_ Anzu thought as she drew blood from the man on the bed to run tests on later. _Why was the surname of this girl 'Haruno'?_

Taking out a needle and syringe, she jabbed an odd mass at the base of her current patient's neck. Pulling the plunger of the syringe up, the tube filled with thick white-yellow pus. That was not a good sign. She injected a mild antibiotic in order to stave off the disease for now, until they had a better idea what to do. Her mind raced in two directions, torn between figuring out about this Sakura and the epidemic.

_Maybe it isn't our Sakura. _Anzu shot a look at the younger medic. _Perhaps this is a daughter?_

No, that couldn't be right. She knew it was Sakura; you could change your appearance but not your chakra.

_Plus, I'm pretty sure Kisame would have disemboweled the guy who got you pregnant if that was the case, _Anzu smirked to herself.

After finishing with her patient, she walked over to where the pink haired ninja stood reading a medical chart.

"Hey, Haruno-san."

Sakura only momentarily looked up before her gaze returned to the clipboard, giving a quick nod to show that she was listening.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday. You had treated a… ," she had to think fast to come up with a plausible explanation, " …friend of mine a while back and I had wanted to thank you for a long time," _about seventeen years long, _"and I guess I should have been a bit more clear about it. I hope you don't think I'm some weird stalker or something." Anzu knew that Sakura wouldn't, in fact, think anything of the sort. It just wasn't in Sakura's nature to believe that unless the evidence said otherwise.

Sakura smiled, looking up once more. "It's alright. I see lots of patients all over the place, so I apologize if I seemed a bit rude. Could you hold this here?" she gestured the gauze that covered the spot on a patient's arm where she had drawn blood.

Anzu grinned widely as she did what was asked, while Sakura wrapped a bandage around it. "In this field one tends to forget names and faces more often than not. I totally understand."

"Me, too," the young man they were talking over chimed in, grinning cheekily. "Even if I'm one of those forgotten names and faces, I totally forgive you."

Anzu and Sakura laughed. This one still had some fire in him, despite having the disease.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" he yelled, acting indignant. "As repayment, one of you lovely ladies must go on a date with me!"

Sakura peered closely at him. "He certainly doesn't seem sick. What do you think? Is our chipper friend here just skipping out on work?"

The blonde woman made a thoughtful expression. "Hmm… that is a possibility. Perhaps we should take his temperature to find out?" The patient's face lit up. "Of course, we should use the most accurate thermometer available."

Playing along, Sakura pretended to mull it over. "Yes, that does seem like a good idea. I'll go and get the rectal thermometer now."

The man paled considerably at this statement but remained undeterred, taking the joke in stride. "Skipping straight to there? What—and you haven't even taken me to dinner yet!" He made a tsk noise. "Naughty, naughty doctor-ladies." Shrugging in an exaggerated manner, he closed his eyes. "But well… I'm a cheap date."

Moving onto the next patient, they waved a goodbye to the boisterous man, who returned the gesture with a vigorous wave of his own.

Smiling, Anzu prodded Sakura a little. "I bet you don't see too many Kiri-nin's. Especially ones like him." She jabbed her thumb in the direction of the man who was starting to sing very loudly and very off-key (to the abject horror of everyone within earshot).

"In all honesty, I can only recall one Kiri-nin, but that was on the battle field when I was younger—long before I became a medic. He was one of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist."

Anzu perked up at this. "Did you know his name?"

Sakura looked sad for a moment but continued to run the basic tests on her new patient. "His name was Momochi Zabuza."

Anzu's smile slipped slightly. She had been one of the few people to cry when word reached about his death.

Forcing a new grin on, Anzu said in a thoughtful tone, "I always wondered why they carried such huge ass swords. Maybe they were compensating for something?" she suggested, a slightly perverted grin on her face. "Makes you wonder just how small the tool was to carry such big weapons around, if you know what I mean."

Sakura gave her a wolfish grin as she finished up the patient. "I personally believe that the bigger the sword, the tinier the package."

Anzu laughed. _A hundred ryo says that if Kisame ever heard that, he'd be having guppies._

* * *

Lunchtime proved eventful for Sakura. Team 3 was a lively bunch, their light attitudes putting even the most worrisome medics at ease; a feeling that Sakura was pretty sure none of them had experienced since this epidemic began.

Somehow the trio had convinced their patrol partners to take a break, leading them away like Pied Pipers to the hospital, where they were now. They sat near the garden area, in full view of the front doors to the hospital (much to the pink-haired medic's amazement since this had to be the clearest she had ever seen the weather in Water Country). Sakura and Rumiko sat together, close to the windows of the building as Akira began to tell a tale about a battle between a strange flying, monkey-tailed boy and a green demon king that he claimed to have once come across.

Sakura found the trio funny, since they seemed to have many extremely wild and weird stories to tell, most of them far too outrageous to be even remotely true. She had to give it to them, though; they really knew how to liven up things.

At least the old lady running the building hadn't found them yet (Sakura wasn't going to fool herself, she knew that the old bat would find them eventually). Sakura had seen her blow up at some of the younger staff members for the tiniest things, and had even heard the lady yelling about them eating and drinking on their breaks! _She doesn't seem to realize that in order to heal others we have to keep up our strength and chakra!_

The old grump had soured everyone's mood, but it looked like things would be getting better now thanks to the arrival of the crazy trio.

Sakura laughed at Akira's story, but a glimmer of something reflected off the window caught her eye.

Looking over she saw the statue, glittering unnaturally for a moment.

Then Sakura felt a tap on her shoulder. Praying it wasn't one of the cantankerous old biddy getting ready to yell at them for taking their breaks (Kami forbid that they eat their only meal of the day when they could be doing work instead), Sakura turned and was immediately relieved to see it was just another medic-nin coming to join the party.

"Oh, hello Sato-san!"

Sato Anzu had proven herself to be a very good medic-nin and Sakura found her easy to get along with. Not to mention the fact that she shared her odd sense of humor, or at least Inner's.

The purple-capped woman grinned, displaying her sharp teeth. "Don't call me Sato, just Anzu will do. Mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all, you'll probably be my one saving grace," Sakura said, motioning for her to sit in the empty seat next to her.

"Oh come on, Haruno-san! We're not that bad!" Masashi joked.

"Want to bet?" Sakura smirked.

"Why yes, I would. Because if you're anything like Hokage-sama, then you can't win a bet to save your life." Laughter ensued as Akira resumed his unbelievable tale and distracted Masashi.

Sakura went back to looking at the strange statue from before.

"It's pretty weird isn't it?" Anzu interrupted Sakura's thoughts.

"What is it, exactly?" Sakura asked, not looking away from the stone.

Anzu leaned back into her seat, her eyes glazed over, deep in memories. "The statue's made out of Auraz rock."

"Auraz rock?" the pink-haired girl repeated. "I've never heard of it."

"Auraz rock is said to have mystical powers, and depending on what you carve it will give you certain abilities. Bringing good luck, or making you more powerful, to just name a couple. But that's just a myth. It's pretty rare stuff, and the only reason they made that statue was because the first one was smashed to smaller chunks, this being carved out of one of the bigger ones."

"Does it always shine like that?" Sakura asked, tearing her gaze away from the thing to look back at the other medic.

"Only around this time of the year, because of the angle of the sun. Though I'll admit that it's unusually shiny this year."

Sakura stared at the older medic, a perturbed look on her face.

"What?"

"You're surprisingly open with your acquaintances," she noted.

"Meh. It's not as though I'm giving away any secrets. Everything I've told you is public knowledge." She shrugged. "You could find it all out yourself with minimal effort."

Sakura continued to stare.

**Wow they weren't kidding when they said she was weird,** Inner said.

_She's not weird, just different._ Sakura countered. Returning to the real world, she blinked a bit. "Hey, Anzu-san, can I ask you a question?"

The older woman gave her a wry smile. "Sure, as long as it has nothing to do with military secrets." She rolled her eyes. "Not that I know any, of course."

"Um… this may seem a little rude, but… I'd heard that the Mizukage was… female?"

Anzu guffawed. "Not expecting our rough brute of a Mizukage, were you? Yeah, our Godaime Mizukage was female, but she's recently stepped down."

Sakura opened her mouth to ask why, but then stopped herself. Frowning heavily, she stated, "She's also got the disease, doesn't she?"

The other medic frowned as well, deep worry etched across her face. "I shouldn't say this to someone not from our Village… but yeah. She's got it. She didn't want to be a burden on the Village, nor did she want the council to trod all over the office, so she forced the current Mizukage into taking her place for now." She smiled a little. "He can't wait for her to get better; he really hates all the paperwork."

"There you are!"

"Crap," Anzu whispered. "The old hag's found us."

The woman in question strode up to them, her face turning an interesting shade of purple that made the medic in Sakura want to admit her as a patient. Preferably in the psychiatric ward. "What are you doing out here?"

Sakura glared. She really didn't want to deal with this!

Before Sakura could reply though, Anzu was already speaking.

"We are in the middle of an orgy, which you so rudely interrupted," she said, perfectly serious.

Most of the people present choked on various drinks and foods, and the old crone's face was gob smacked.

…_Whoa, Inner. She does have your sense of humor._ Sakura thought.

**A kindred soul!** Inner cried happily.

* * *

Sakura looked at the blood sample under the microscope, frowning slightly.

The virus/bacteria/toxin/whatever (no one was sure yet what it was, exactly) was like the horrid love-child of a leech and a cancer. It latched on and multiplied rapidly, spreading something like poison throughout the body as it killed the healthy cells, restricted breathing, caused mass fatigue and screwed over ones chakra control. It also had the nasty side effects of an autoimmune disorder, causing the infected's own white blood cells to do most of the attacking for it. Death came in the form of a massive heart attack.

Most patients didn't even know they had it until it was too late. There were very few warning symptoms and the symptoms themselves varied widely from person-to-person; a slight cough, strange lumps on the lymph glands, even partial paralysis. The whole cycle took about month to break down the body, effectively killing it.

Now that she knew roughly what it did, she had to figure out what was causing it. And because the symptoms weren't predictable, they were masking the true cause. The whole thing was giving her a massive headache.

Sighing, Sakura looked at the clock and frowned. 11:13 PM.

Had it really been three hours since she bid Team 3 good night?

Deciding to call it a night, Sakura cleaned up all of the medical notes and supplies before walking out the side doors that led to an herb garden she'd seen earlier that day.

It was decently sized, with herbs she recognized and a few she didn't. It was soothing, in a strange way.

Sakura continued to walk on the path, admiring various night flowers. In her entire life, she had never seen so many different flowers blooming despite the fact that it was January and freezing cold. After a while she turned towards the gate, intent on getting as much sleep as possible when a thought crossed her mind.

How was she going to get back to the hotel?

The mist was, as she was quickly finding out, even thicker during night time.

_How do these people even know where they're going when seeing is virtually impossible?_

Retracing her steps, she found the entrance she had walked out of only to find that it was locked. Hadn't Anzu said it locked automatically?

Damn. And to make things worse, it had just started to snow. She hated snow.

Aggravated, Sakura pulled off her hitai-ate, scratching her head in frustration.

Following the course of the brick wall, she soon found the doors to the front entrance.

Sakura hoped that they wouldn't mind if she found an empty room and crashed there for the night, because Kami knows she wouldn't find her way back to the hotel now.

She stopped short of the entrance, looking back at the statue. Did that thing just sparkle again?

Another twinkle appeared causing Sakura to walk over to it, almost in a trance.

Kneeling in front of it Sakura traced the aged statue's jagged cut hair, wincing as it sliced through her glove and into the tender flesh of her finger. She yanked her hand back, sending small droplets of blood falling to the ground below. Sticking the offended appendage into her mouth to stem the bleeding, Sakura looked down in shock as the stone began to glow.

The stone girl seemed to come to life as its hands began to flash through a series of hand signs, its mouth moving as though it was saying something but no sound was coming out. Instead, pale wispy kanji's formed from its mouth.

_Ha_

Sakura paled as she saw the single drop of blood on the statue's feet.

_Haruno_

Scrambling up Sakura tried to run but found herself unable to move. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS A MYTH!"

_Haruno Sa_

"ANZU!"

_Haruno Sakura _

She gulped as a light began to grow from within the stone as it finished the last hand sign. Lights of all colors flashed and swirled around her, spinning and weaving until she could no longer tell one from another. Then she heard a metallic clash as sweet darkness swept over her and everything stopped.

* * *

Sixteen year old Kisame walked aimlessly through the thick mist, bored out of his mind. It was 11:34 PM and he didn't get replaced until 3, meaning he was stuck with Gawa till then.

He hated being put on patrol duty. The first rule of patrol duty was that _nothing__ ever__ happened _on patrol duty, and Gawa was boring as hell.

And to make it worse, it was snowing. He hated snow.

"Hoshigaki-san, you really shouldn't scowl like that. The Mizukage might put you on more missions like this." Gawa's nasally voice penetrated the teen's head like nails on a chalkboard.

"Please," he muttered to no one. "Just once make this interesting."

Just as the word slipped from his mouth he saw a bright light not too far off.

Grinning, he said a quick thanks before rushing towards the source, Gawa not too far off.

He was surprised to find himself in the Auraz Statue area. Nobody went there unless they were hoping for a good bloodshed. That statue was freaking sharp. And creepy. Very creepy.

As quickly as they came, the lights disappeared. He frowned.

What was that all about? The fog was too thick to see through so he had no way of knowing what it was.

Walking a head a little further Kisame nearly jumped when he heard a pained cry.

Looking down he saw a girl about roughly his age whose bright pink hair he just trod upon.

Whoops.

"Huh?" came Gawa's oh-so-clever observation.

If it had been any other situation Kisame would have laughed at his companion's loss for words since it was a rare thing, but he found that he couldn't form any words either.

She groaned and Kisame debated with himself on what to do. Kill her and then check her corpse? Or get her some help?

He chose the latter, since for all he knew she was a shinobi of Kiri and he really didn't want to hear the Mizukage preach at him about why he should not go off and kill people for no apparent reason. It wasn't exactly a pleasant lecture (he would know).

Picking the girl up, he turned to Gawa. "You continue with the patrol. I'll take her to the medic tower."

And with that Kisame ran through the mist, leaving an angry Jounin behind as he mentally cackled to himself. _No more patrol duty!_

* * *

_**That ended up being far longer than I thought it was.  
**_

_**Please review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I am so, so sorry for how late this is. I've been writing this on slow days at work, but there have been very few of those recently. All in all, this chapter took me about a month to write.**_

_**Just to forewarn everyone, Kasamaru's accent isn't exactly… consistent. I did try my best, but I think he ended up sounding more like he was from the southern U.S. than anything else.**_

_**Thanks to all of the great reviews I received, I feel inspired. You are all wonderful!**_

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The medic tower was in a state of complete and utter chaos when Kisame arrived with the strange pink-haired girl. Nurses and medic-nin alike were practically lifting off from running around so fast, both outside and inside the building. There were even a couple of patients sitting in rolling beds, forgotten in the hallways, staring in helpless bewilderment at all the activity.

It was almost funny. But he was starting to feel uncomfortable standing around with the girl in his arms, and no one had even noticed his presence. Given his appearance—normally a thorn in his side—it somewhat irked him.

He stared at the tiny bell on the main desk, thinking hard. _Should I press it? …Maybe. Would anyone actually hear it and come? …Probably not. Will I look like a complete and total idiot if I do press it? YES._

"I refuse to look like an idiot," he grumbled, focusing all the ire he could muster onto the innocent bell. It was a wonder the thing didn't burst spontaneously into flames.

Luckily for the bell, Kisame spotted a nervous-looking nurse standing in a nearby hallway. "Hey!" he called out to the middle-aged woman in what he considered his friendly voice, trying to get her attention.

He got her attention all right. She also jumped several feet straight up in the air, letting out a half-smothered shriek at Kisame's extremely loud voice and somewhat threatening call. Once she had regained some wits, she turned and stared at the gigantic blue teenager with some trepidation, her nerves completely frazzled.

"Y-yes?" she answered hesitantly, wondering what in the world she could have done to earn Kisame's rather terrifying greeting.

Kisame shot her an annoyed look which only terrified her further. "Where can I put her?" he growled, all attempts at friendliness gone. While he had to admit that there was a certain pleasure that came with scaring the daylights out of innocent passerby, it did get on his nerves every once in a while (even more so when he had made the effort to be nice in the first place).

Besides, the pink-haired girl was getting heavier by the second; for someone so petite, she certainly weighed a lot more than you'd think. It wasn't as if he couldn't carry her, but it did make him rethink not killing her; this was rapidly becoming tedious, not interesting.

The hapless nurse thought about it for a second, before shakily giving him directions to a room with an open bed. She watched helplessly as Kisame promptly strode down the hallway in the wrong direction, and winced in sympathy when he unceremoniously threw the unconscious girl over his left shoulder.

That was definitely going to bruise.

_He'd better slow down_, she thought, watching the pink-haired girl bounce up and down on Kisame's shoulder. _Or, he should at least walk more gently. Otherwise she's going to…too late._

Quickly, the nurse turned and fled. A truly angry Kisame was never fun to deal with.

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Sakura's head was pounding as she began to awaken. Light leaked in through her closed eyes, making her a little dizzy. She had no idea what was going on, and her brain felt like it was full of the same mist that Kirigakure was.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted and tossed face-down onto what felt like a huge rock, knocking what little air she had in her lungs completely out. Her stomach made nauseating movements as it was (it felt like) repeatedly slammed into said rock.

Desperate to get a grip on her bearings, she tried to open her eyes, only to be overwhelmed by the bright lights and strange fuzzy black spots that were everywhere.

That was all her body could handle before she was flung back into blissful unconsciousness.

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Kisame wasn't entirely sure which direction he was going, but he wasn't going to let that skittish nurse know it. She'd spoken too fast and stuttered, so he hadn't actually understood her directions. Which was fine. He'd just search until he found an open room.

Next to his left ear came a noise that sounded like a groan, which made Kisame perk up a little. _Is she coming to? Took her long enough!_

Then he felt something very warm and very wet run down the back of his shirt.

He paled (as much as he was able to). _Oh no. She wouldn't dare._ Stopping in his tracks, he twisted his head to the right, trying to see his back.

Although he couldn't see it very well, what he managed to glimpse horrified him.

_Little pink-haired witch VOMITED ON ME!_

Discovering with renewed disgust his inability to get away from the back of his vomit-streaked shirt (and probably his pants, too), he flinched whenever the fabric touched his skin. It was beginning to look like he was vibrating down the corridor.

He took the time to pick up her heavy ass and haul her all the way to the medic tower instead of killing her on the spot, and THIS was how she thanked him?

Spying a room with an empty bed, he stomped in and heaved the pink-haired girl onto it. Disgusted, he started to mutter darkly to himself. Then he paused and thought about the situation a little more.

There was no way he was going back on patrol without an extremely thorough shower, clean clothes, and without telling the little kunoichi exactly what he thought of her giving him her lunch on his backside.

A cough came from the other side of the room, and Kisame jolted at the unexpected noise.

The room's other occupant stared at the blue teenager with a completely apathetic expression. Clearly, Kisame had failed to notice the older shinobi's presence in his irritation over the vomit. It wasn't a mistake he would normally make, which made it all the more embarrassing for the teen.

The vomit really didn't help his image, either.

Honryuu Kasamaru may have looked impassive, but he was far from it in reality. He was trying desperately to hide his laughter (mostly because his ribs were broken at the moment, and laughing would really hurt). Aside from the bandaged ribs, he also had a large piece of gauze tied on the right side of his forehead, just above and to the left of his ear. His right arm was in a sling, and his right leg was in a cast that was being suspended in the air by an odd contraption made from strong wires.

Clearing his throat, Kasamaru gave Kisame a reproachful look. "Now, if ya' two wan' ta' have some fun, I suggest ya' fin' a room tha's actually empty." He burst into guffaws at Kisame's flabbergasted expression. "Ya' should OW see th' OW look on yer OW face!" he winced while he chuckled. Then he doubled over in his hospital bed (as best as he could), ribs racked with pain. "OW, ow ow ow ow ow."

Laughing had not been such a great idea, but he couldn't help it. Watching Kisame's face go from outraged to embarrassed to horror-struck was absolutely worth the agony his broken ribs gave him.

Kasamaru knew that there would be more to come, too. Although Kisame hadn't noticed (yet), he was certain that the boy would soon discover that the only clean clothes to be had in the medic tower were hospital gowns, and that the showers were currently out of hot water. There was no possible way Kisame was going to be able to leave the medic tower with vomit-stained clothes and skin, either. The nurses were very good at sensing when a patient was trying to escape (he knew from personal experience).

Kisame growled at the laughing (and wincing) shinobi. "Not funny. Not funny at all."

"Yah," Kasamaru grinned from ear-to-ear, "it is." _And I'm still waiting for you to notice the vomit you're standing in._ Then Kasamaru looked over at the pink-haired girl, interested. "So wha's up with th' pink chicklet, there? Ya plannin' on eatin' 'er?"

Kisame grit his teeth and didn't rise to the bait, because that's what the jounin would want. He knew that the shinobi was just testing how far he could tease him before Kisame completely lost his composure. He wasn't proud of the fact that he sucked at concealing his emotions, and having it rubbed in his face was unpleasant. "I found her."

The older shinobi looked at him in vague surprise. Even though he'd only worked with Kisame a couple of times before on missions, he understood just how unusual this situation was; he'd also heard rumors about the last lecture the Mizukage had given Kisame about killing first and asking questions later. _That's really interesting. Are small pink-heads with big foreheads his type? Or did the Mizukage's lecture finally sink in after the 23__th__ time?_ "Didn' yo' parents teach ya 'bout bringin' strays 'ome? Don' do it if ya ain't prepared ta take responsibility fer 'em an' whatnot?"

Kisame found the idea of keeping the pink-haired girl as a pet disturbing on many levels, but he didn't comment.

Inclining his head in Kisame's direction, Kasamaru conceded, "Well, I suppose ya bringin' it in fer medical care is settin' a good example ta all pet owners."

"If she was a pet, I'd bring her to the vet," Kisame quipped, one of his neck veins pulsing dangerously. Now he really wanted the girl to wake up so he could interrogate her and gripe about the vomit instead of listening to the injured nin.

"Good decision. Th' vet is closed this late a' nigh'."

Heck, even Gawa might have been preferable to _this_.

Kisame silently vowed to get revenge on Kasamaru for those comments every single time the opportunity presented itself until he was satisfied. He wasn't sure how, but he would. It wasn't a well known fact about him, but he could be very vindictive if he wanted to.

"Tha' bein' said…"

_Uh oh,_ Kisame thought.

"Ya should prob'ly change out o' those clothes. An' take a shower. Ya smell somethin' awful, and it isn' mixin' well with th' pain meds I'm takin'."

The blue teenager blinked, a little wary of this. "You're on pain medication?" he asked, appraising the older shinobi's heavily bandaged condition. Kisame could see from where he stood that the chart hooked to the foot of Kasamaru's bed had 'broken ribs' written on it. However, that was all that was there, despite the rest of the injuries he clearly had.

"YES," Kasamaru replied concisely, displaying all of his sharp teeth in his grin. "I'm sailin' on smooth seas with a stron' tailwin', I am. Feelin' rather giggly."

The grin falling, a sly smile that didn't bode well for Kisame crept onto Kasamaru's face, replacing the grin smoothly. "I'll call a nurse," he volunteered, reaching for a bell on the small stand next to his bed.

As soon as he did so, a very young medic-nin burst into the room, face aflame and dirty-blonde hair flying in several directions. "What? WHAT? Honryuu-san, I will not let you torture anymore nurses! No more flicking the lights on and off, no trying to escape, no singing, no dancing, and ABSOLUTELY NO COFFEE WITH YOUR MEDICATION!"

The medic-nin, who couldn't have been more than twelve, turned and spotted Kisame. She seemed to be especially small (given her age and Kisame's own height this was understandable), but she was easily staring down her nose at the large blue teenager before she realized that he (probably) hadn't done anything wrong (yet). Her face relaxed a moment while she stared at him, measuring and evaluating him for some unclear purpose. This only made her youth and innocence more apparent in her features, but bespoke of a certain kind of maturity that the teenager couldn't fully comprehend.

_She must have just barely missed that incident with the bloodthirsty kid at the Academy, _Kisame realized with a start. _She probably graduated not too long ago, and never had to take the killing exam. I doubt she's ever killed anyone since graduating, either._

Just as abruptly as she'd stopped, the diminutive medic-nin refocused her wrath onto Kasamaru, distracting Kisame from his thoughts. "What did I tell you about AIMING? If you must vomit, do it in the bowl on your nightstand or in the bucket next to your bed!"

She whirled around and swiftly bowed to Kisame, startling him more with this action than with her shouting. "You have my deepest apologies for this idiot's behavior. He's one of our worst patients even without the medication."

"Um…" Kisame sweated, still in a state of minor shock, "I don't mind."

"Sato-san!" Kasamaru waved with his bruised (but free) left arm to get her attention, completely unaffected by the medic's actions and words.

"What do you want?" Sato snapped back, suddenly furious again.

"Yer standin' inna pool o' vomit," the older shinobi pointed out helpfully.

Glancing down, Kisame saw that this was true. And that he was also standing in it.

…_Shit._

Kasamaru burst into another round of laughter and wincing, thoroughly enjoying the expressions on Kisame's and the medic's faces.

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After performing an extremely quick check on the mysterious pink-haired girl (who was declared unconscious, but otherwise alright), the medic-nin (whose name Kisame learned was Sato Anzu) was more than happy to provide Kisame with a normal change of clothes that she'd dug up from storage somewhere. There were a size too small, but Kisame didn't really care at this point (anything was better than a hospital gown, although perhaps the real reason was that these clothes were made of flannel and really warm).

Once he'd taken a cold shower (after much cursing at the frigid temperature of the water and at Kasamaru's laughter from the adjoining room), Kisame put on the clean clothes and walked out of the bathroom.

Kasamaru, while no one had been paying attention to him, had in his drugged state seemingly been trying to reach the pulley the wires holding his leg went through. However, he'd only succeeded in getting his whole body hopelessly entangled and it was actually quite amazing that he hadn't injured himself further. Kisame could only guess that the man had been trying to lower the thing, to no avail.

"What are you doing?" Kisame asked the pale shinobi.

"Can breathe," he replied, wheezing.

Kisame stared at him quizzically. "Good to know."

Kasamaru made a feeble motion with his left hand, which was now suspended by his right eye. "Can breathe!"

"I get that." Kisame wondered if the jounin had been driven insane in the time it took to take that very short, cold shower.

"NO!" the man half-cried, the words almost strangled. "CaN' BreEEeeAAaaTHE!"

_Oh. _The answer dawned on Kisame with a slight amount of horror. "You CAN'T breathe!" Quickly, he took one of his kunai that had escaped the vomit and cut some of the wires holding Kasamaru.

The man fell as if he were a marionette and the wires were his strings. He let out a scream as his leg half-dropped, too, twisting his leg in a weird direction.

"That looks painful," Kisame observed with some malicious glee. Upon receiving a steely stare from Kasamaru, he made a noncommittal wave with his hand. "I wasn't the one who put you into this position in the first place. Speaking of which, how did you get in this horrible condition to begin with? And what happened to the rest of your chart?"

Clearing his slightly red throat (that had a very distinct wire mark across it), Kasamaru replied, "I go' 'em while bravely defendin' this village, in th' performance o' my duty 'sa shinobi." A look of abashment stole across his face. "As fer th' char'…"

A voice came from behind Kisame, answering the question instead of Kasamaru, "The chart was a victim of his mixing heavily caffeinated and sugared coffee with his pain meds. Only that last sheet survived. I have the rest right here."

Turning around, Kisame saw Sato standing in the doorway, and impatient look on her face. "And as for his injuries," she continued, walking into the room and affixing the new chart where the old one had been, "I hear that he actually slipped and fell off the breakwater. Whereupon he fell straight into the ocean and had to be fished out."

"I fell with style!" Kasamaru asserted, desperately trying to save his image.

"Yeah, on your face," Sato replied point-blankly.

Kisame looked between the two of them, severely confused. "How could he fall off the breakwater? Even when the rocks are at their slipperiest, basic chakra walking will prevent you from actually slipping and falling. Basic water-walking with chakra will keep you from falling into the water, too."

Sato shot her patient a severe look. "That's what I want to know."

The jounin gave them a large shrug. "Dunno, 'onestly. S'like, my chakra suddenly vanished fer a momen', fer no reason."

The small medic leveled another disbelieving stare at the large man in the hospital bed. "The only time that happens is when you're pregnant." She tilted her head to one side a little. "Are you pregnant, Kasamaru-san?" she asked with fake concern in her voice. "Does your partner know about this? Do you know? Maybe I should go get the pee-stick test, just to be certain."

"Yer a riot, ya know tha'?" Kasamaru replied, rubbing his throat gingerly. "Water, please?"

"Haven't you already swallowed enough in the ocean to last a lifetime?" Kisame quipped, grinning at Kasamaru's disgusted expression. This would make an excellent start for his revenge.

Kasamaru glared at Kisame for a moment. His pain medication was beginning to wear off, and his sanity and composure were returning along with the dull throbbing that permeated every muscle and bone in his body. Hell, even his _teeth _hurt. It was definitely putting him into a foul mood. "Somethin' tha' isn' brackish would b' fantastic."

A disposable cup was shoved rather forcibly between the two nin by an irate Sato. "Here is your water. All of these sparks flying are likely to catch something on fire, and if you two don't stop it right now I'm going to have to assume that this is a lover's spat and Kisame is the father. Whereupon I will have to report you to the authorities, Kasamaru-san, for the exploitation of a minor. Then your child will have to be born in the prison and taken away from its mother. No one wants that for a child, right?"

Kisame immediately took two large steps back from Kasamaru, angered (and slightly alarmed) by the small medic-nin's sense of humor. "If you weren't twelve, I'd hit you," he growled, in the most threatening way he knew how.

He was pleased to see a small amount of wariness in Sato's eyes. It wasn't quite fear, but it would do.

At least, until Sato replied, "If you do that, I'll have to have you arrested for assault and battery. Then both of the child's parents will be in prison, and that can't possibly be good for his/her young mind." She paused for a moment, and then glanced between the two. "Do you know the gender, yet?"

Kasamaru sighed and took a drink from the cup he'd taken from Sato. "I bet you're quite popular, both here and at the Academy," he drawled, setting down the cup and laying back in his bed, leg still half-twisted in the air.

Sato nodded in response, and went to fix the wires. "I've gotten pretty good at writing apology letters." Slowly lowering Kasamaru's casted leg down onto the bed, she dismantled the apparatus that had been holding it up. "I think I would regret not being myself, though," she shrugged.

"Wise words – from a twelve-year-old," Kasamaru muttered to himself.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, the medic asked, "Where in the world did you guys come up with the idea that I'm twelve?"

"…You're not?" Kisame asked, confused. _She can't possibly be that much older, though._ "So how old _are_ you?"

Placing her hands on her hips she stated proudly, "I'm eleven."

The two men groaned in defeat. There was just no winning an argument with a pre-teen, and they knew it.

A groan came from the bed behind them.

Kisame walked over to where the pink-haired girl laid, almost forgotten. Her eyelids were fluttering slightly. "I think she's coming to," he remarked, peering intently at the prone stranger.

A look of relief swept over Sato's face. "Oh, good. I was getting a little worried that I'd missed a concussion."

Kasamaru shot her an unreadable look. "Shouldn't a' 'ave known tha' already, medic-sama?" he asked dryly.

The look of contempt she shot back at the older man was almost fierce enough to make him flinch. "_Eleven_, remember? Even if I'm extremely good at this, I could've missed something easily. Which is why I asked to have another medic come and look at her." She went over to the opposite side of the pink-haired girl's bed and placed two fingers on her throat, checking for a pulse. "Actually, the fact that no one has come yet is really pissing me off," she stated sedately.

The three waited while the girl slowly stirred. Groggily, and with painstaking slowness, she sat up and stared around the room without seeing anything.

"Hey! You!" Kisame shouted, getting impatient. "Pinky!"

The girl squeaked and practically jumped out of her own skin at the loud voice right next to her ear. In the same movement, she suddenly lashed out her arm and hit Kisame's.

A sickening _**CRACK**_resounded throughout the room, followed shortly by a surprised howl of pain.

Then, obviously disoriented by the sudden movements, the pink-haired girl vomited onto the front of Kisame's shirt.

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_**Ha ha… sorry that Sakura doesn't have much of a part this time. I wanted to focus on the dynamics of other characters a little, but it turned into something much longer than I'd originally planned.**_

_**Review, please! Tell me what you think! (Aside from how late it is…) I promise to update more often, now that I'm back in writing mode.**_


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